Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Nuclear
LLC reports
This report is issued as part of the Health and Safety Executive's commitment to make information about inspection and regulatory activities relating to the above site available to the public. It is for distribution to members of the Hartlepool Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hartlepool Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (part of the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Directorate) attend LCLC meetings and will be happy to respond there to questions raised by members of the LCLC. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate on 0151-951-3484/3290.
This report will be put onto the HSE Website under ‘Local Liaison Committee Reports’ at www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm
The site inspector visited the site on seven occasions during the quarter:
| 3rd to 6th October | 24th and 25th November |
| 20th and 21st October | 29th November to 1st December |
| 1st to 3rd November | 8th and 9th December |
In addition specialist NII inspectors visited the site during the period to assist with inspections related to their areas of expertise, and the Superintending Inspector led the inspection of Level 1 demonstration exercise Zoozoo.
As part of their routine work NII inspectors inspect for compliance against the requirements of the Station’s Nuclear Site Licence, the Health and Safety at Work Act and other relevant safety legislation. They monitor events, plant operations, projects, modifications and safety case changes and any other matters which are important to safety. Planned inspections during the quarter included training (LC 10), emergency planning (LC 11), safety documentation (LC 14), modifications (LC22), control of operations (LC23) and maintenance (LC 28).
In general the station’s arrangements were found to be satisfactory. In those areas where improvements were identified, satisfactory commitments to address the issues were made by the station. Routine aspects of particular significance are summarised below:
Work was substantially completed on the replacement discharge line during the quarter and NII released its hold on commissioning.
An NII team, led by the Superintending Inspector, observed the Level 1 demonstration exercise on 2nd November. The scenario was extremely demanding and generally handled well by the station. However it was concluded that there was an opportunity for improvement in the demonstration of command and control in the emergency control centre and a further demonstration of this aspect is planned for March 2006.
As part of their planned inspection site inspectors examine safety related events that have occurred and the Licensee’s response to them. Generally the Licensee’s internal system for following up events is robust and the appropriate actions are implemented. More noteworthy events during the period include the following:
During return to service of Reactor 1 on 12th November the reactor tripped due to a problem with the turbine generator. This has led to a major project for the station to replace the generator. The Site Inspector found that, initially, the control of heavy lifting by one of the major contractors was unsatisfactory. The station remedied this by engaging a qualified expert to monitor all heavy lifting work on the project and the Site Inspector has confirmed that this has successfully resolved the problem.
The Site Inspector has continued to progress the station’s development of an improved risk assessment process. The improved process is now installed on a trial basis at Hartlepool and the Site Inspector and a specialist colleague intend to carry out a detailed inspection before the process is rolled out across the BE fleet.
NII have continued to monitor in detail the work being done by BE to develop the case for boiler closure unit (BCU) studs and agreed to the restart of both Hartlepool reactors during the quarter. Inspection work to consolidate the case is continuing in the near future and NII will continue to monitor the outcome in detail.
Under Health and Safety legislation the Site Inspector, or other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal notices to secure improvements to safety. No such notices were issued during the reporting period.
The Inspectorate has powers under the Licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions of the Licence. These are all called Licence Instruments. Four Licence Instruments were issued to Hartlepool during the quarter:
Licence Instrument 506, a specification preventing British Energy from implementing the interim case for BCU studs in NP/SC 7427 without NII agreement.
Licence Instrument 507, agreeing to the implementation of the medium term case for BCU studs in NP/SC 7415 addendum 2 for Reactor 1.
Licence Instrument 508, agreeing to the implementation of the medium term case for BCU studs in NP/SC 7415 addendum 2 for Reactor 2.
Licence Instrument 509, agreeing to commissioning of the LPBUCS replacement discharge line.
HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate 5th December 2005
St Peter’s House
Stanley Precinct
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 3LZ